2/6/18 – 205 Live and Mixed Match Challenge Review

Now that I am free of classes for today, I have time to include my Mixed Match Challenge and 205 Live review for last night. If you haven’t read it yet, you can find my Smackdown review here. I was surprised how quickly they transitioned from show to show. (If you consider Mixed Match Challenge it’s own show) They don’t give themselves much time yet executed it perfectly.

Mixed Match Challenge tournament matchJimmy Uso & Naomi def Goldust and Mandy Rose with Daniel Bryan as special guest referee. After the match Rusev and Lana came out and claimed they were the most dominant married couple in the tournament. Next week will be them vs Bayley and Elias.

So WWE said they were going to hold a vote for the special referee of the match. The options were Daniel Bryan or Kurt Angle. I was really hoping for Kurt, though I knew it was virtually impossible. It was the third time I had seen D Bry (And second time in about five minutes since he closed Smackdown). The match was nothing more than a comedy shtick, but with it being aired on Facebook Watch I’m sure that was intentional. The majority of the match featured Jimmy and Naomi loving on each other and Goldust hinting at doing the same with Mandy. I’m sure it got the heart emojis WWE was desiring on Facebook. Rusev and Lana making an appearance after the match, and the fact that Elias and Bayley is a pairing that had to have been picked out of a hat, makes it pretty clear who’s going to take home the win next week as well.

These little guys can fly. And my initial thought was this cruiserweight stuff looks way better in person than on TV. But judging by the reception last night’s 205 Live has gotten, maybe it was actually a good show. But this was a fun, high flying match. Kalisto and Dorado are really athletic. Kalisto winning was the right move. Solid way to kick off the show.

TJP had a backstage promo regarding fans giving him nasty comments for how he won last week. He’s upset that he put in so many years of work for the fans to boo him succeeding. He flashed back to the CWC and said back then he did everything for the fans, but not now. Now he doesn’t care what the fans thing and he’s going to do what is necessary to win.

This was a real solid job by TJP. He really played like he was hurt that the fans have seemingly turned on him. He took the heelish route by saying he’s going to do whatever it takes for him to win and doesn’t care what the fans want. This is how heels should come off. Well done.

Drake Maverick was shown backstage as Drew Gulak and Tony Nese came into his office. Gulak asked when they were going to discuss a better 205 Live. Maverick proceeded to bash both of them. He took a hit at Gulak’s powerpoint presentations and Nese only caring about his abs. He said they both have so much wasted potential. He then made Gulak vs Nese for next week in the first round of the Cruiserweight Championship Tournament.

Hopefully this will soon draw an end to the Gulak and Nese pairing. I didn’t like Nese going back to being one of Enzo’s lackey’s but now that he’s gone he needs to break out. I like the no holds barred approach by Maverick. He’s the type of boss that is going to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.

This was another good match. I got the feeling from these two that winning the cruiserweight championship actually meant something. That’s how all title matches or tournaments should feel. Surprised how long the match went, but they made the most of it.

Man they should’ve put this match on TV, these guys went at it. I’d never seen Shinsuke before and started getting nervous when he wasn’t on the main show. Baron Corbin got a big pop, being that he’s from Kansas City. I actually had a group of about three people nearby that were big Jinder Mahal fans. Maharaja shirts and chants and all. I didn’t know Jinder Mahal fans existed, and am still not sure they should. These four guys put on a quality tag match and it was a good ending to a very good night.

Overall

The Mixed Match Challenge was nothing spectacular but it was something new so I didn’t mind it. 205 Live has now put on a good show two weeks in a row, I don’t know how I should feel about that. Hopefully the tide keeps rolling and it leads to a division turnaround. The dark match to end the show was great. I’m glad I made the decision to come to the event. It was certainly a lot of fun.

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